In the story of this world, there are known but two people who, while still alive, have been blessed with the sight of the Holy Trinity. One was the forefather Abraham; the second, a Russian saint of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Alexander of Svir.
The story of the Venerable Alexander’s life lives on not only in books, but also in the many holy places that bear his name. His birthplace was in Priladozhye, on the banks of the River Oyat. Any traveller who has set foot in Karelia will know how the stern, wild beauty of the land seems made for quietness and prayer.
The Venerable Alexander — born Amos — was the son of Stefan and Vassa, who would themselves later take monastic vows. From his earliest days, Amos was quiet and gentle — what we might now call otherworldly. He looked to the ascetic way of life and gave much of his time to prayer. Such a bent troubled his parents, and they began to think of finding their son a good, kind wife. But that was not the path his life would take.
One day, some monks from Valaam arrived on an errand in the village where Amos lived. Even then, the Valaam Monastery was known for its strict rule. A conversation with these men set the boy’s heart on following them and, after praying with great feeling, he slipped away from his home without a word. After crossing the River Svir, he rested for the night on the shore of a small lake, Roshchinskoye. That night, in a dream, Someone unseen showed him where his future hermitage would stand.
When Amos woke, he at once saw that he did not know where to go. But on the path, an Angel, appearing as a simple traveller, met the young man and guided his steps right to the monastery gates.
He remained on Valaam for thirteen years. There he received the tonsure with the name Alexander. Among the islands of the Valaam group is one called Svyatoy, or Holy Island. On this tiny spot of land — more rock than earth — the Venerable carved a small cave from a cliff face. Here he lived and prayed, taking refuge from harsh weather. Today a wooden skete dedicated to the blessed Alexander of Svir rises from the island, home to a handful of monks living "far from civilisation". His little cave remains, too, with a lamp always burning within — a quiet sign of the ceaseless prayer offered both by the saint and by the brothers who now dwell there.
One night, as he prayed, a great light suddenly flooded his cell, and a voice bade him return to the wondrous lake by the River Svir and build a monastery there. The abbot saw this as God’s will and sent the monk on his way with his blessing. Reaching the place, he built a simple hut for himself and gave himself to prayer and to monastic labours in full seclusion. His only food was what the woods would offer; his body grew thin, and he bore hunger and illness with patience. Yet his solitude would not last much longer.
Holy Trinity Alexander-Svirsky Monastery
Not far from the hermitage lay the estate of the nobleman Andrei Zavalishin. One day, while out hunting in the woods, he chanced upon the saint’s small hut. During their talk, Andrei spoke of how he had glimpsed, more than once, a strange light above this spot from far off. The hermit’s heart sank, for his quiet life was a secret no more. He let Andrei leave only after making him promise to tell no one of their meeting. Even so, word of the holy man soon spread. People began to come to him, some for counsel, others for healing. In time, a monastery grew up around the Venerable Alexander of Svir.
The Appearance of the Holy Trinity to St. Alexander Svirsky
Twenty-three years on, it was given to the Venerable Alexander to see the Holy Trinity. As he was praying one day in his cell, Three Men clothed in shining robes came before him. The saint heard words of blessing: to build a church in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Before long, through the toil of the brethren, a church rose up — first of wood, later of stone. The Venerable Alexander of Svir was ordained a priest, and so began his new calling as a shepherd of souls.
Later, when he became abbot, the Venerable Alexander not only kept working alongside the other monks, but also watched with great care over the community’s spiritual life and the keeping of its rule.
In his last years, another wonder was granted to him. The Most Pure Virgin, with the Divine Child in her arms, appeared to him in light. She gave the servant of God Her word that the monastery he had founded would never know want.
He reposed on 12 September 1533, aged 83. Such an extraordinary number of miracles flowed from his relics that only fourteen years later he was numbered among the saints — quite rare in the story of the Orthodox Church.
The relics of the Venerable Alexander of Svir
In 1918, the Chekists — agents from the Soviet state security — came and removed the incorrupt relics from the monastery. But for all the Bolsheviks’ efforts to wipe out what they called the "cult of dead bodies", some among them sensed they were in the presence of something miraculous. For a long time, the "body of an unknown man" was kept safe, away from view, in the Military Medical Academy in St Petersburg. Not until 1998 were the holy relics at last returned to the Alexander-Svirsky Monastery.
Days of commemoration: 30 April (17 April Old Style) — the finding of the relics; 12 September (30 August Old Style).
Prepared by Yulia Goiko
